Description: This paper was presented at the 1956 Society of Actuaries Eastern Spring Meeting, held April 19-20 in Hartford, CT. The author discusses the significant growth of immediate annuities, primarily through settlement options, and recent annuitant mortality improvement trends and experience studies, including a new mortality table, the proposed 1955 American Annuity Table. The author notes the main purpose of his paper is to propose a graded rate system for life income settlement options that is detailed enough to be equitable, yet simple enough to be understood by the policyholder. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1956 Volume 8, Number 21.